Ham Seo Hee admits feeling disappointed with her performance over Itsuki Hirata despite the victory

Ham Seo Hee may have scored the win in her return to the circle at ONE Fight Night 8 on Prime Video, but the South Korean standout admitted to feeling a little disappointed in her performance.

‘Hamzzang’ made it three in a row under the ONE Championship banner with a unanimous decision victory over the fast-rising Japanese star Itsuki Hirata at Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Following her victory, Ham spoke with the South China Morning Post (SCMP), revealing that despite having her arm raised, she was not overly thrilled with her efforts inside the cage:

“I’m happy that everything’s over and that I’ve won.. But I’m a little bit disappointed in the way it went.”

While Ham Seo Hee may have expected more out of herself, ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong saw a ONE world title-worthy performance. Following Friday night’s festivities. Sityodtong revealed in a post-event interview that Ham’s next fight would be for the ONE interim atomweight world championship.

When and where that takes place remains to be seen. A potential scenario could see Ham competing for the interim title against the winner of May 5 high-stakes atomweight clash between fan-favorite Stamp Fairtex and Alyse ‘Lil Savage’ Anderson. The two will square off at the 1stBank Center in Colorado as ONE Championship makes its long-awaited U.S. debut.

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Itsuki Hirata promises to work harder following her loss to Ham Seo Hee

Once the undefeated darling of the atomweight division, Itsuki Hirata has found herself at a bit of a crossroads following her loss to Ham Seo Hee at ONE Fight Night 8. Having dropped two of her last three bouts, ‘Android 18’ knows that he will need to go back to the gym and work even harder before she can get back into the win column.

In a translated post on Instagram following her unanimous decision defeat, Hirata said:

“Thank you for your support‼︎ I'm happy to be able to play among many customers. And I was happy to be able to show everyone how I was fighting‼︎ I'll work harder, get stronger, and practice a lot to get better‼︎ I'm like this, but I hope you'll continue to support me 😅 I'll be back!”

With the latest loss, the Serra-Longo Fight Team product is still a respectable 6-2 in her mixed martial arts career, but it’s becoming more apparent that Itsuki Hirata will no longer be able to rely on just her grappling skills to get the job done in one of the most stacked divisions in ONE Championship.